DAIRY FREE, GLUTEN FREE, PALEO

This is salad number five of seven, of my seven salads in seven days series. This one so quick & easy to make. It takes barely any time at all. If you like, feel free to have the green beans and asparagus raw, but I like to have the contrast of hot and cold ingredients. The base of this salad is so versatile, replace the chicken with any meat or roasted vegetable of your choice!

METHOD

Start off by snapping off the ends of the asparagus, and top and tail the green beans. In a pan on medium heat add the coconut oil, green beans, asparagus, salt, pepper. Finely grate the clove of garlic and add this and the lemon juice to the pan, allow to cook for 3/4 minutes. You still want everything to have a bit of bite to it. Do not allow the greens to become floppy! When the greens are done, put them to one side and quickly toast the diced almonds in the same pan. This should take no longer than 2 minutes. Place these to one side also until needed.

Next prepare the rest of the salad. Lay out the leaves on your plate. Finely slice the spring onions, radishes, cornichons, tomatoes & avocado. Sprinkle these ingredients out over the salad leaves. Drape over the salmon in what ever fashion you like, add the asparagus, green beans and toasted almonds. To make he dressing add all of the ingredients into a jar and shake well. Drizzle over the salad and toss everything together, making sure all the ingredients are coated. Enjoy!

DAIRY FREE, GLUTEN FREE & PALEO

Oh holy mother! This salad is one of my favourites so far. Vegetarians please look away and meat eaters please salivate. In this recipe I will give you a few tips that I have learnt over the years to cook the perfect steak. I love the marbled fat running though these sirloin steaks. Don't be afraid to go heavy handed with the garlic, I did!

HOW TO COOK THE PERFECT STEAK

Firstly, have the steak at room temperature before searing or pan frying. This allows you to control the cooking process.

Do not oil the pan oil the steak. Rub rape seed oil or olive oil over the steaks with your seasonings. Leave the steak to marinate in the oil for at least 5-10 minutes before placing on the pan.

Have the pan smoking hot, literally. Get the pan as hot as you can before placing the steaks on it.

A minute a side. Lay the steaks down away from you in the pan. Cook for 60 seconds each side, this ensures that the steaks are cooked evenly on both sides. Keep rotating for as long as you want depending on how you like your steak cooked.

Leave to rest for the same amount of time as you cooked the steaks. Leave the juices to settle in the steaks, this is just as important as the cooking process and is vital if you want a juicy tender steak. Cover with tin foil keep in the heat while resting.

METHOD

First thing to do is get the steaks marinating. As I said above, make sure the steaks are at room temperature. Lay the steaks on a plate, drizzle over a generous amount of olive oil, squirt over the juice of half a lemon, and finely grate the garlic. Season with salt and pepper and massage the seasonings in the steak. Leave to sit for at least ten minutes. While the steak is marinating, you can prepare the dressing and extras.

For the dressing, add the juice of one lemon and the same amount of olive oil to a jar. Add the mustard, salt and pepper and give a good shake to mix everything together. To prepare the rest of the salad, sprinkle a generous handful of rocket leaves on each plate. Scatter chopped tomatoes, finely sliced red onion, radishes & asparagus on each plate. Leave the asparagus heads whole.

Turn the cooker on full whack and place your griddle pan on top. Allow to heat for at least 2 minutes before placing the steak down, it should be at smoking point. Using a tongs, lay the steak down away from you. Cook the steak one minute per side. The steaks that I cooked only took 2 minutes. Depending on how thick the steak is, time will vary. Remove the steak from the griddle pan and allow to rest for 3 to 4 minutes. Cover the steak with tin foil.

After a few minutes slice the steak up into strips and lay it down over the salad. Drizzle over the lemon and mustard dressing. Enjoy!

VEGAN, VEGETARIAN & DAIRY FREE

This is salad number two of seven, of my seven salads in seven days series. I love getting creative with flavours and textures in the kitchen. There has been two pots of gorgeous smelling thyme and rosemary in my kitchen for the last week, and Ive been thinking up different ways to use them. Their beautiful aromas are certainly heightened in this salad. With couscous being a fantastic carbohydrate, this salad will keep you going all the way through your busy day. Eat it warm just after you've made it, or lovely and chilled as a packed lunch, either way, your tastebuds will be transported right to the mediterranean!

METHOD

Firstly, preheat the oven to 200 degree celsius. Roughly chop up the red onions, courgette & yellow pepper. Finely chop the rosemary. Scatter the vegetables in a roasting tray with the chopped rosemary. Using the back of a knife and the palm of your hand crush two cloves of garlic just so that they are bruised and add them to the roasting tin. Give a generous seasoning with salt and pepper and drizzle everything with olive oil. Place in the oven for 40 minutes, until all the vegetables are nicely roasted.

Meanwhile, make the couscous. Place the couscous in a bowl, pour over 1 cup of boiling water and leave to stand covered for 12-15 minutes, until all of the water is absorbed. At this stage it is a nice idea to place a few lemon wedges into the couscous so the lemon flavor starts to seep into all the couscous. In a pan on medium heat. Toasted the sliced almonds with a little bit of salt and pepper until golden and aromatic. Leave to the side until needed.

For the assembly. Fish the wedges of lemon out of the couscous, and fluff it up using a fork. Pour in all the roasted vegetables, including the garlic cloves and all the juices. Squeeze over the lemon juice. Finely chop the thyme and mint and sprinkle over the vegetables. Give a final glug of olive oil and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix everything through. Enjoy for lunch or dinner!

PALEO, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE

I recently visited a restaurant that I had never been to just down the road from my house, where I tasted my 1st ever grilled peaches salad. Inspired by this delicious salad I have decided to create my own take on this delicious dinner using fresh summer ingredients! This salad is bursting with flavor, it has contrasts of hot and cold, crunchy and soft, bitter and sweet! Its the perfect dish if you want something tasty, quick and easy to whip up in the kitchen.

I'm not a cheese lover but if you are definitely add mini mozzarella balls or shavings of parmesan!

METHOD

Firstly, prepare all of your salad ingredients. Finely slice the radish & spring onion so that they are wafer thin, or at least try. This salad isn't fussy(neither am I!). Remove the stone from the peaches and lightly drizzle them with honey. Snap off the ends of the asparagus.

Next, in a piping hot griddle pan, splash a little olive oil and place your peaches face down on the surface. Throw the asparagus in also. Give a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper and allow them to become lovely and charred on the outside, and soft and sweet on the inside (should take about 5 minutes).

In two seperate bowels(if making this for two people) add the rocket, mixed leaves, sliced radish & spring onion. At this point I like to add seasoning and dressing to the salad. Depending on how sour you like your dressings splash in equal parts of olive oil & balsamic vinegar into each bowl, sprinkle over salt and pepper and toss making sure everything is coated.

Tear apart the parma ham and scatter it equally between the two salads. By this stage your peaches and asparagus should be ready! Chop up the peaches and asparagus and sprinkle them amongst the leaves and salad ingredients.

If you like give the salad one more glug of olive oil, sit down, relax & most importantly enjoy!

PALEO, VEGAN, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE, SUGAR FREE, VEGETARIAN

This vibrant salad is bursting with flavor and color. It is the perfect option if your looking for something quick and easy to throw together for a light lunch. I will leave this short and sweet and let the pictures do all the talking! Enjoy!

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Cut each sweet pepper in half and place it on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for 20 minutes until lovely and charred. Leave to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.

Finely slice the red onion, spring onion, chili and parsley. In a medium sized bowl place the spinach leaves in with the chopped ingredients and mix well.

Tumble in the roasted sweet peppers and mix everything together.

Add equal parts of red wine vinegar to olive oil. Sprinkle in generous amounts of salt and pepper and a tbs of honey. I find it easier to make my dressing in jars as you can just shake them up and pour them quickly on to the salad. There is no need to use all the dressing, just enough to lightly coat the salad. Toss the salad around one final time, dish out, and enjoy!

PALEO, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE & SUGAR FREE

Having just made falafel using chickpeas I was dying to try out new ways to make it paleo! I came up with this recipe after many failed attempts in the kitchen. They are light fluffy and packed with flavor. I found I could eat a lot more of these than regular falafel and you wont be left feeling groggy or bloated. If you want a delicious sauce to accompany these little beauties, I came up with a light and zesty lemon yogurt dipping sauce. For a lunch or dinner idea, have this falafel wrapped in little gem lettuce leaves with all the trimmings.Recipe is here.

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

Chop the florets of the head of the cauliflower and add them to your blender. Blitz the cauliflower until it resembles fine rice grains. Steam the cauliflower until it is cooked through, this should not take longer than 5 minutes. Using a tea towel or a cheese cloth, gather the steamed cauliflower and squeeze tightly until all the moisture has been removed. You should be left with a compact cauliflower ball as pictured above.

Finely chop the spring onion, chili, parsley and add to the cauliflower. Then add the juice of half a lime, the almond flour, spices and season to taste. Crack in one egg and combine everything together. Pour the mixture out onto a chopping board and shape it into a rectangle about one inch in depth. Slice the falafel mixture into ten pieces, this way the falafel will cook evenly and be uniform in size.

Heat the coconut oil in a heavy based pan. You know when the oil is hot enough when you place a piece of falafel down in the oil and it starts to sizzle straight away. Don't put the falafel in too early, otherwise you will not achieve that nice brown, crispy falafel crust.

DAIRY FREE, GLUTEN FREE, VEGETARIAN & SUGAR FREE

I had a very long day of experimentation with falafel today, honestly went through 4 cans to get the result I was really looking for. I came up with two different methods and two different varieties of ingredients. To make falafel balls, with a rough texture as opposed to a smooth centre I found it is best to mash the chickpeas with a fork. If you want to make falafel patties definitely use a blender to create a smoother mixture and spoon this on to your heated pan with oil. In terms of ingredients, I came up with a paleo version made with cauliflower, this is absolutely delicious! Not only are the paleo falafels extremely tasty, they are also moorishly light and will never have you feeling bloated and groggy. So go ahead try out which ever ones you think you'd prefer, or see for yourself and make the two! These are great in pita breads or as I had them wrapped in little baby gem lettuce.

For the Lemon Sauce (not paleo), for a paleo option you can use my lemon mayonnaise 1 cup of fat free greek yogurt zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon bunch of parsley salt pepper tsp horseradish

METHOD

Start off by roughly chopping the spring onions, chili and parsley. Drain the chickpeas and add to a blender(if making patties) or to a bowl(if making balls) if you are mashing them with a fork. When mashing the chickpeas it is not necessary to break them up completely, I actually prefer when they are rough and have a little bite to them.

Next add the spices and seasoning to the bowl or blender. Finally add the chili, parsley, spring onion, egg and lime juice. Blitz until smooth or mix together until everything is well incorporated.

When making the falafel balls I like having all the balls the same size, to do this tip out the falafel mixture onto a chopping board, pat it down into a rectangle about an inch thick and cut into 10 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. When using the blender to make the falafel patties just use a spoon to pour the mixture on to the hot oil in the pan.

In a heavy bottomed pan pour in 1/4 cup of coconut oil and heat on a high temperature. Place in one ball just to test the temperate. If it does not sizzle as soon as the falafel hits the oil, the oil is not hot enough. When the oil is ready add the falafel and cook till golden brown. This usually takes 2/3 minutes per side. When cooked place on a piece of kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.

LEMON SAUCE

Very simply add the greek yogurt to a serving dish. Zest the half the lemon and add the zest and juice to the yogurt. Roughly chop the parsley. Add the parsley, salt, pepper & horseradish and stir to mix everything together. Serve with the delicious falafel.

PALEO, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE & GRAIN FREE

If your looking for a healthy alternative for a burger on a summers evening then I have got the answer for you! These are absolutely delicious, zesty with a little bit of heat and packed with flavor. They can be eaten with basically anything, enjoy them on a gluten free burger bun or chop them up and throw them into a summer salad. Give these a go, trust me you'll love them.

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

Firstly start by removing the skins from the salmon fillets. Place the skin side down and run a very sharp knife along the bottom of the fillet, almost touching the chopping board. Hold the salmon fillet on either side while you run the knife along the bottom.

Next dice the salmon in to small pieces width ways.

Then finally chop the diced pieces so that the salmon is in little pieces. I think it is nicer not to have it minced, I feel it gives you a more 'meaty' burger.

Finely slice the leek.

On a pan over medium heat, soften the leeks with a teaspoon of coconut oil.

Squeeze in the juice of half a lime to the salmon mixture and stir everything together.

Next add the egg and almond flour into the salmon mixture. Take the leeks off the heat and allow to cool a little.

Add the leeks to the mixture and combine everything together. The ingredients should all be well incorporated and the mixture should be a little wet but still hold together.

Lightly dust a board with almond flour so that it is ready to lay the burgers on.

Divide the mixture into four, and shape four burger patties. Place a tablespoon of coconut oil on a pan over medium heat and place the burgers down gently on the pan. Cook on one side for 10/12 minutes. The sides of the burger should being to turn white and it should look as though it is browning on the bottom. Do not flip the burgers if the look like they will not hold together. If the burger can be removed easily from the pan in one piece then it is ready to be flipped. Cook for a further 7-10 minutes until the cooked through.

While the burgers are cooking prepare your toppings. I was feeling like a light dinner so I just lay my burger on a bed of lettuce with avocado and tomato. But go for what ever you are feeling, you can just as easily add the burger to a rocket salad or have it in a whole wheat bun or in a bagel. One ingredient I would definitely include is the avocado, honestly I think it makes the burger.

Layer the ingredients on top of your burger and finish off with a squeeze of lime, a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper.

PALEO, VEGAN, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE, GRAIN FREE

Ketchup is one of my favourite things, I thought I would grow out of literally putting it on everything, and I mean everything; ham, pizza, bread, potatoes, crackers, lasagna, spaghetti bolognese.. the list goes on, but, I haven't. These days ketchup is packed with sugar and is consumed way too easily and large portions. This roasted red pepper ketchup has everything you'd want in a ketchup with (nearly) no sugar. It can be spread, dipped or lathered on almost everything and has a much more complex flavor than just the regular ketchup. Gone are the days of eating ketchup out of the sachet(I think Im the only one who does this!), its now time for REAL ketchup.

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Tumble all of your tomatoes, peppers & garlic cloves on to a baking tray and cover in the melted coconut oil(it will begin to hard on the cold vegetables, but that is perfectly okay). Season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes until the skin on the vegetables is nice and charred.

When you've taken the vegetable out of the oven roughly dice an onion and begin to dry sauté it in a large saucepan over medium heat. While the onion is cooking deseed the roasted peppers. If your fussy about these kind of things you can go ahead and deseed the tomatoes but I wasn't too bothered. Just run the back of a knife along the inside of the peppers to collect the seeds and of course remove the stalks. There will be juice and flavored coconut oil left over in the roasting tin, this is full of flavor so do not discard it. Once the onion is slightly soften add the deseeded peppers, tomatoes, garlic cloves & all of the juices that were collected in the baking tray.

Add in the cider vinegar & maple syrup, and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes until everything is completely softened and the liquid has reduced a little.

Take the saucepan off the heat and with a hand held blender blitz everything until the mixture is smooth and paste like.

At this stage taste and check the seasoning, add more salt/pepper if you desire.

Store in sanitized glass jars and keep in the fridge. This will last up to 2 weeks.

Have this beside roasted chicken, as a pasta sauce, with poached eggs or as a tomato base for my broccoli base pizza. The options are endless!

My good God, this salad the tastiest one I have made yet. I always love adding as many different textures and flavors as I can because lets face it, bland salads are never too exciting. This is the perfect dish to serve for a summer dinner party, plonk a large bowl of it in the middle of the table and let every one help themselves. The dried cranberries add such a nice chew and give a little bit extra sweetness. So wipe the drool off your chin and make something thats light, tasty and unbelievably healthy.

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Roughly chop the sweet potato in to bite sized chunks. Place in a baking tray and coat with the olive oil, balsamic, salt & pepper Roast in the oven for about 1 hour until the skin is slightly crispy and the centre is soft.

Leave to cool slightly once cooked and being to prepare the salad.

Place a generous handful of rocket onto each plate.

Chop up the cherry tomatoes and sprinkle over.

Diced up the spring onion and scatter over the salads with the sun dried tomatoes.